There are known in the art a great variety of atomizers. The following U.S. Pat. Nos. are considered to be representative of the most relevant prior art: 3,908,903; 3,980,233; 4,335,677; 4,341,530;. 4,406,404; 4,595,143; 4,773,596; 4,834,343; 4,943,704; 4,946,101; 5,044,559; 5,059,357; 5,181,661.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,530 describes a slurry atomizer wherein a pressurized helical flow of steam proceeds about a longitudinal axis, along which a liquid channel is defined. Impingement of the helical flow of stream on the liquid channel draws liquid through the channel and causes breakup of the resulting axial liquid flow into droplets.